Beijing Glasses Market

3 weeks ago, Tom and I went to the glasses market. It's a building with a few hundred stalls of eye glasses vendors. You can get your eyes examined, if necessary, and get glasses made there in less than an hour. So, he and I each had two pairs made. We had been there before and had no problems. (This is foreshadowing...)

I chose a pair of regular glasses from one stall and a great pair of sunglasses from another stall across the way. They took my original pair of glasses to copy the prescription, which is how we did it the last time. This time, though, right from when I put the new glasses on, I could tell they weren't quite right. The sunglasses definitely weren't right but Tom picked them up for me a week later, so I couldn't do anything about it right away.

After trying to decide if the other pair was ok or not, I made the decision to see an eye doctor. Today I went to the international SOS clinic for an eye exam. The doctor, an Australian, checked my prescription and it is correct. He then checked the glasses. The problem was in the placement of the lenses. He and I bonded over the fact that this was like so many other things here... close but not quite right.

I had time to spare before I had to be at Huck's school, SO, I decided to brave the glasses market on my own. It was a big decision b/c they don't speak English... AT ALL. In fact, at the sunglasses stall, they speak a different dialect, so I knew I was taking a risk.

The first obstacle was in actually finding the correct stall. There are 4 floors, 5 rows of stalls in each, and about 7 or 8 stalls per side of each aisle. Luckily, I found it on my second choice of aisles. The women at both stalls remembered me. This place does not see much western business, so I stand out there. At the first place, I explained that the glasses were not right. I showed them my good glasses and the ones I bought from them and said they are not the same. OF COURSE, the woman said "they are the same". So, I had to repeat that they are not the same. I told her I could not see well. I told her I went to the doctor today and he checked my eyes and the glasses and the glasses are not the same. SO, she sent me with her lackey to the 4th floor where they make the lenses. There, I had to go through the same ordeal and explanation. I showed him my prescription, explained the distance between the centers of each lens and finally the guy saw they were not the same. They were about a millimeter off but it made a big difference.

I asked how long it would take and was told about a half hour. I told them I had to leave in 40 minutes to pick up my son. Then I went back downstairs to the second stall to deal with the sunglasses. I, again, explained the issue with the placement of the lenses and pupil distance. There was a "meeting of the minds" in which the 3 workers had an in depth conversation in their own dialect. Then they came back to me with an explanation. After much back and forth, with me trying to discern what they were trying to tell me, I figured out that they were telling me that my eyes/face is too small for the glasses and they cannot fix the problem. They said Chinese glasses and American glasses are not the same???? Then she showed me smaller glasses. I didn't like them as much as the others but thought I may as well get them because I need them and it's a lot less expensive to do it there and I'd already paid for them. I knew it would be a challenge to get my money back. I chose a pair and asked if they could make them. She took them away, with my glasses, for about 10 minutes, returned and told me they cannot do it. Then she went into a long explanation, most of which was lost on me. Finally I called Xing Ayi and asked her to talk with the woman and try to then explain the issue to me. In the end, she was saying that she should just give me my money back. I said that is fine and showed her the receipt. I had paid 220 rmb. She said she would give me 200 rmb. Unbelievable, and yet, not at all surprising, here. I said, that I gave her 220 on May 5th, so she must give me 220 now. This went on for about 2 minutes and ended with me leaving with my 220.

I then went upstairs to find my glasses. After a few minutes, the glasses were finished and seem to be correct. The guy had a long explanation for me, which I think was that the issue was only a difference of about a millimeter and that I didn't need to pay, or maybe I was supposed to pay a little (about which I'd have argued). I said thank you and see you next time and dashed out the door to get Huck.